Japanese artist Riusuke Fukahori says that he once struggled to find his creative vision, only to overcome that struggle with the help of his pet goldfish -- and what inspiration it must have been. The photo you see above appears to depict a wooden bowl, filled with dozens of circling fish, but there's much more to it than meets the eye. This is actually a work of art created through Fukahori's remarkably painstaking process of painting over multiple layers of resin to achieve a hauntingly lifelike, three-dimensional image.

Fukahori's work, part of a set called Goldfish Salvation currently on display at the ICN Gallery in London, employs a unique painting technique the artist developed to create convincingly realistic fish scenes. The resulting 3D artwork, while incredible in its creativity, actually serves as an ideal medium to express the subtle sense of melancholy felt in keeping a fish captive as a pet.

According to the artist's web site, while in a creative slump ten years ago, it was his pet goldfish which saved him from depression. Despite the fact that they're hardly exotic, goldfish do possess an otherworldly beauty -- yet in the very act of keeping that beauty at hand, we rob them of their freedom.






Here's video of Fukahori in action, offering a glimpse of his really quite magical process of painting in three-dimensions, and the equally magical work that results -- all thanks to the inspiration gained from a goldfish.
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